Military Sea Hawkers

The military chapter of the official booster club of the Seattle Seahawks

Week 11 Recap: Zone blocking–is anyone else feeling duped?

When this year started, it seemed that all you could hear coming into the season was how improved the running game would be with offensive coordinator Greg Knapp’s zone blocking scheme being implemented. Oh my, how wrong fans were to get their hopes up.

In this week’s 35-9 loss to the Vikings, the Seahawks totaled an unsavory four yards on the ground. Four yards — total. In contrast, the Vikings averaged 4.3 yards per carry.

Concession does have to be made to the fact that Seattle may not have the greatest running backs in the league, nor the greatest offensive line. But with the woes of the running game being felt ever since the MVP season of Shaun Alexander, optimism was at an all-time high coming into this season. With the zone blocking scheme, this was going to be the year that the Seahawks turned it all around.

Following the game against the Vikings this Sunday, it appears that zone blocking will not be the savior of Seattle’s run game. Doing the math on the final run tallies, the Seahawks could not even gain one foot per rushing attempt. Taking nothing away from a great Vikings defense – this should never happen.

Had this been a once-in-a-season type event, perhaps there would be a different tone to the criticism. This is not an isolated incident, however, as Seattle has rushed for fewer than 70 yards in half of their games this year (66 yards in San Francisco, 49 yards in Indianapolis, 14 yards at home vs. Arizona, and 55 yards at home vs. Detroit).

Lastly, can someone please let Seneca Wallace know that once a quarterback is outside the tackles, he is free to throw the ball away. There is no excuse for running out of bounds to take a nine-yard loss. Throw the ball away in that situation and at least Seattle comes away with more than a yard per attempt.

After watching a team like the Vikings pound Seattle this week, it becomes apparent just how far the team has fallen since its Super Bowl run.

Recapping the rest of the division, the Cardinals were able to hold on to a 21-13 win to take a huge lead in the division with the 49ers losing to Green Bay 30-24. The Broncos continued their losing streak, now at four games, with a big loss to the Chargers. So perhaps the Seahawks could end up with the draft pick in the middle of the first round with the way things are going. We can only hope for a little bit better luck with the first round selections.